Vesper's face grew pale, and, after a short hesitation, he said, dreamily, "I scarcely know. She has become mixed up with my life in an imperceptible way, and there is an inexpressible something about her that I have never found in any other woman."
Mrs. Nimmo struggled with a dozen conflicting thoughts. Then she sighed, miserably, "Have you asked her to marry you?"
"No."
"But you will?"
"I do not know," he said, reluctantly. "I have nothing planned. I wish to tell you, to save misunderstandings."
"She has some crotchet against marriage,—she told me so this morning. Do you know what it is?"
"I can guess."
Mrs. Nimmo pondered a minute. "She has fallen in love with you," she said at last, "and because she thinks you will not marry her, she will have no other man."
"I think you scarcely understand her. She does not understand herself."